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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23784553">チェリー。There’s a Piece of You in How I Dress (Take It as a Compliment)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/masokisst/pseuds/masokisst'>masokisst</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Hinata Shouyou deserves better, Hurt Hinata Shouyou, I guess it was implied ?, JUST PRETEND THE SCHOOLS ARE UNIVERSITIES AND THEY’RE ALL IN COLLEGE PLS, Jealous Kageyama Tobio, Kageyama Tobio is Good at Feelings, Kozume Kenma is a Good Friend, M/M, Misunderstandings, None of them are uneraged, Self-Acceptance, Self-Indulgent, everyone is there for two seconds, that should be a tag, though he’s there for like two seconds sorry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:33:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,803</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23784553</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/masokisst/pseuds/masokisst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Hinata is see-through and in denial</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou/Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>91</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>チェリー。There’s a Piece of You in How I Dress (Take It as a Compliment)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>IM BACK AND I SUCK AT SUMMARIES OSLLSSPSLS IDK WHAT ELSE TO WRITE I WROTE THIS IN ONE SEATING LAST NIGHT AND IT’S COMPLETELY SELF-INDULGENT I HAVE NO OTHER EXCUSE WHATSOEVER ENJOY!!<br/>(spoiler-ish notes at the end so ,, read after)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">When Hinata first gets a girlfriend, it’s a revelation: she’s soft. In places where girls were told they were going to be soft, and also in places that were unspoken of. She’s like putty under Hinata’s rough fingertips, her body giving way to his warm devotion. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She lets him touch her above her blouse and discover what’s below it, it’s summer and she tells her parents she’s enrolled herself in summer school but she spends all her days in Hinata’s room, letting him map out all the words he’s too afraid to say out loud on her thighs, clenched around his hips the way his words are in his throat. And he never says <em>I love you.</em></span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She tells him a week before classes start again that she’s only been waiting for him to say the magic words before she does her final act and at that time Hinata doesn’t know what she means and he wishes he did later on because in the end she made him believe he was the magician and she was the spectator when it’s been the other way around all along. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She says “I love you,” in the breath between where their lips part but they never touch, and she disappears a day later without a word. Same as a revelation, she’s also the obscurity, and Hinata never hears from her again. He figures magicians are never keen of revealing their secrets anyway.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">When Hinata meets Yuuki, she’s unlike his first. She’s also an athlete, meeting between volleyball nets and knee pads and pain relief patches and they compliment each other well. She’s the same height as him, and her body is firm with years of sports training. She has a pretty smile and a headstrong personality—team captain, of course.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">His friends catch wind soon enough and Kageyama asks, “Did you kiss her?” And Hinata ignores the way the nonchalance in his partner’s voice makes something ache inside him that he’s familiar with but will never name and he tells him, “Soon enough.” And leaves it at that.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hinata kisses Yuuki behind the bleachers after a practice match and she says, “I’m sorry.” Instead of “I love you,” And the next day the sad looks he gets are unwelcome but not unkind.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Himari is Yuuki’s friend and they meet through one of his matches; she becomes Hinata’s third. Tanaka teases him that he goes through girls like he does his clothes and Hinata doesn’t tell him that he’s always had a favorite shirt that he’ll never wear outside his bedroom, it’s old but unworn, collecting dust inside his closet, nestled between the skeletons he has hidden in it. The shirt smells oddly like Kageyama Tobio, the cotton soft and clean. But he’ll never admit to it, at least not in his current disposition.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Himari is taller than Hinata, and she’s everything Kageyama isn’t. Hinata isn’t happy with it but he always tries to find traces of his volleyball partner in the girls he dates—does she have his hair color? His smile? His attitude? Does she hold her bag the same way he does and does she brush her hair a certain way the way he does? Himari has light brown hair and porcelain skin, she doesn’t play volleyball and she’s soft everywhere. When they hold hands the contrast is palpable, her skin feels like freshly washed linen under his lips, but Hinata doesn’t kiss her on the mouth the way he always does, and she doesn’t notice.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He’s only avoiding the inevitable, “I’m sorry,” anyway. He’s only being careful.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Have you kissed her yet?” Kageyama asks on a Saturday morning of their second month of dating, and Hinata says no. Kageyama gives him a calculating look but doesn’t say any more, and Hinata hears, “Don’t mind!” When Asahi misses a spike and pretends it’s for him.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She asks about Kageyama frequently, and Hinata answers as best as he can. The first few times he doesn’t understand why but he entertains her nonetheless, she seems eager to know more about him and Hinata likes talking about Kageyama anyway. He builds his image up in words only a man in love would use but Himari fortunately can’t read between the devotion in his voice, too busy sinking her teeth into the sweet words and eating them up like she’s starved for it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">When she moans Kageyama’s name in the crook of his neck the first time they have sex he pretends he doesn’t hear and stops asking her to watch volleyball practice. Hinata gets eleven balls to the back of the head and a bruised hip, but he tells no one. Kageyama asks, “Are you okay?” And it sounds like he means more than his injured hip and headache so Hinata says he doesn’t know and Kageyama doesn’t say any more.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She asks, “What does Kageyama think of me?” And Hinata says, “I don’t know,” instead of “Why?” or “Are you in love with him?” And invites her to his next practice match.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">When she asks if Kageyama would be there he says, “Yes, of course.” Instead of, “Why?” or “Are you in love with him?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hinata catches them kissing next to the water fountain near the bathroom on his way out from changing the bandages on his hip, and he stands there and watches when Kageyama pushes her away and immediately catches his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hinata,” He says in a voice that sound like thunder and urgency, but everything is static in Hinata’s mind—he doesn’t even remember when he started crying. Himari stands with her back against the wall, looking just as surprised as he does, blouse slightly askew and lips slick and red. He doesn’t care about her, Hinata realizes at that moment. She isn’t what’s breaking his heart, Kageyama is.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You two look better together anyway.” Hinata says before he’s sprinting off, past the court where he hears several variations of his name being called, past his bike and towards the park, losing himself in the haze of </span>
  <em>
    <span class="s2">it hurts, it hurts, it hurts</span>
    <span class="s1">.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He hides underneath the playground slide and observes his reflection on the slope of the metal. He wonders how Kageyama hadn’t figured him out yet, when all he sees on his face is how pathetically in love he is with his partner and the bleeding hole in his chest that he desperately tried to fill with other people. He smiles and his reflection garishly smiles back and he tries to swallow the blood he sees on his teeth. He makes sure there isn’t any stains on his white practice shirt when he crawls back out the slide and walks all the way back to Karasuno for practice.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He’s thirty minutes late when he arrives and he prepares himself to apologize for being a cause of delay for such an important practice match but he’s quickly being coddled by a handful of Kozume Kenma, whispering “Shouyou, are you alright?” In his hair and Hinata desperately clings back.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Kenma asks what happened with Himari in the soft, gentle way he always does and Hinata pretends he doesn’t see Kageyama flinch when he says, “She’s with Kageyama now.” Making sure to make his voice sound as neutral as possible even if his insides are burning up. Hinata pretends he doesn’t feel transparent when his members as well as the members of the opposing team all stare at him in shock.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No I’m not.” Kageyama says thirty minutes after their unsurprising loss to Nekoma, only the two of them left in the changing room as the others hurried out when they noticed the tense charge of the atmosphere.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’m not dating her, not even remotely interested in her.” Hinata shovels his dirty shirt into his knapsack and shoulders it with a huff. “Okay.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“She was the one who kissed me, she caught me off guard. I don’t know why she did that.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He tries for a swift exit but Kageyama unsurprisingly blocks him. “You’re not gonna let me leave?” Hinata keeps his voice from wavering but it breaks near the end, it’s in no one else’s best interest but Kageyama’s that he doesn’t start crying, because then Kageyama wouldn’t know what to do and it’d be Hinata scrambling to make him feel better instead of the other way around, so Hinata asks him to move aside and let him leave but Kageyama wouldn’t be Kageyama if he weren’t so stubborn so Hinata breaks down at his feet and as expected, Kageyama doesn’t know what to do.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Please just fucking move, okay? I wanna go home.” Hinata sobs into his knees and he doesn’t feel when Kageyama moves away, only realizing when he’s suddenly being lifted up from his fetal position, face-planting against Kageyama’s chest.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He’s not soft like all the girls he’s been with. His chest is firm and flat, and when Hinata presses in closer he can feel the outline of his taut tummy against his own. His heartbeat is easier to find, and Hinata unconsciously nuzzles closer until it’s right underneath his ear. It beats in tandem with the blood rushing in his ears, and Hinata melts.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The shirt he’s been keeping in his closet, collecting dust, fits like a glove despite being unworn and almost ratty. It’s warm and soft, and it feels right on his skin when it settles. Kageyama asks him, “Can I kiss you?” And he does so unapologetically when Hinata says yes, and kissing Kageyama is not a revelation but a rapture, like redemption and damnation at the same time and Hinata loves it. Hinata loves that if Kageyama doesn’t last he’d be too derelict for anyone else but him afterwards, he’s glad that Kageyama will leave ruins in his chest and ribs if he leaves and Hinata will be the same for him. He’s glad that the stain on his lips will leave a bitter aftertaste if they don’t make it past an “I love you.” </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But when Kageyama pulls away, his face is full of wonder and Hinata figures he wouldn’t need to be worrying about that for now, when this boy has been looking at him like he’s his whole universe the entire time and he just hadn’t looked long enough to notice.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">When Hinata says “I love you,” there are thorns in his throat that Kageyama slowly picks out when he spells out, “I love you, too.” In breathless pants against his mouth, in the fingers in his hair and the truth in his words. There’s always anxiety that follows every time Hinata says I love you first because Kageyama always takes a second to take the words in before he says them back, like he’s letting them sink in before he responds. And Hinata finds that he doesn’t mind, not one bit.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i’m not v satisfied with the ending ngl , i wrote this at 3-4am because i’ve had the prompt in my head for so long but i didn’t know How to end it so the last part is kind of a mess , but i think i tied it together nicely enough ? i wish i wrote more on what happened with Himari too lol i can’t stand her, + i forgot to give a name to the first girl character, that’s completely unintentional and there’s no meaning behind Why she doesn’t have a name 😭😭 anyway, that’s all pls be nice to me and tnx for reading!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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